Day 3 (Tuesday) started well. After a late night, P1 and I forced ourselves to get up at the crack of dawn (well, it felt like it) to head back to Le Louvre so we could be first in the queue for the museum and see our friend Mona. The timing worked out perfectly and we arrived before it opened, with no queue in sight... and a big sign saying 'Museum Closed Every Tuesday'. So I was forced to do my own portrait of Lisa to make up for it...


From there, P1 and I went our separate ways - him to get some arty shots in a museum and me to head to the top of the Eiffel Tower.


After queuing for 20 minutes, I suddenly realised that those with hiking boots or fitness attire seemed to be bypassing the queue. Upon further investigation, I discovered that I too could be part of that gang if I wanted to walk up to the equivalent of the 43rd floor of a skyscraper. Wearing a beach dress and flip-flops, I may not have fitted in with the gang on appearances, but I successfully joined the mass hike and have the pictures to prove it. Unfortunately, I had to get a lift to the very top of the tower, but it was a very pleasant experience.

Tourist traps ticked, and with no time to waste, we checked out of Paris armed with detailed directions to nearby petrol stations, and followed the GPS religiously until it seemed to want to take us underground. I've been down a similar road before (which I ended up having to build myself), so being older and wiser this time, I parked the car on the edge of the kerb and sent P1 off on an underground mission. Amazingly, (and I'm sure Health & Safety fanatics would have a field day with this), the petrol station was indeed in an underground car park...


Full of fuel, and fired up to trust my GPS in future, I followed it until it took me around the Arc de Triomphe. That was an even more scary experience than Sunday's trip - five lanes were merging into two, but at ten times the rate. I just kept driving, while P1 kept clicking photos...


Somehow we survived and headed down to the Loire Valley. As Tours is the area of French Chateaux, it seemed right that we book ourselves into such a specimen. And it was very beautiful, albeit a little eerie, even more so when we discovered we were the only people staying. It has a pool, 15 hectares of land, including woods, and a very dark, creaky staircase up to our attic room. Oh and the TV has no reception, so there is no contact with the outside world.

But Tours is a beautiful place, and I'm sure our Chateau will look much more appealing by day.

Assuming we see day...